Cleveland Cavaliers basketball is finally back this month.
In what’s felt like an eternity, the Cleveland Cavaliers 2020-21 season is almost here. The Wine and Gold last appeared in game action on March 10, in what was then a close loss to the Chicago Bulls.
Shortly thereafter, the NBA’s 2019-20 campaign went into a novel coronavirus-induced hiatus, and following that, Cleveland’s past season was done with them not having been an Orlando-area bubble squad.
On the plus side, it was nice to have seen the Cavs seemingly gaining momentum heading into the hiatus. In that span post-All-Star break, in which J.B. Bickerstaff then took over the head coaching reigns, the Cavs had a 5-6 record, which was a positive sign, as compared to their overall 2019-20 record of 19-46.
I also believe even while there will inevitably be some rust for Cavs players, given the long layoff, early on, for guys like Darius Garland and Dylan Windler (who didn’t play last season due to injury), they’ll have been able to work on their games extensively. And for both, heading into next season fully healthy/ready to roll should pay dividends for their mindsets, I believe.
So looking at next season, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic/how that’s continued to impact the league, only the first half of the season for 2020-21 has been released so far by the NBA. That will, as far as the full duration of it, only be 72 games, also. Per the Cavs, you can view the first half for them below.
Full look at the first half 👀 pic.twitter.com/yhaJn5FX0m
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 4, 2020
Regarding the first half, we’ll take a look at some key dates for the Cavs.
The first is well, the first.
Cavs key first half dates: Dec. 23 versus the Charlotte Hornets
The first key date for Cleveland in their first half is the Opening Night slate against the Charlotte Hornets. For the Cavs, it will be intriguing to see how Andre Drummond, who picked up his $28.7 million player option for next season, but only played eight games last season with Cleveland following his trade acquisition from the Detroit Pistons, does early on.
Additionally, though, besides the first regular season game action for the Cavs in nine-plus months at that point, seeing Cleveland’s young guards/defense go against Hornets young playmaker LaMelo Ball should be fun to see play out.
Ball, who was Charlotte’s #3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, is an immensely gifted passer/playmaker and could make for an interesting pairing with the likes of Devonte’ Graham and/or Terry Rozier for Charlotte.
From there, I’ll be looking forward to seeing feasibly Isaac Okoro, Cleveland’s fifth overall pick, perhaps, who will be making his debut for the Cavs, going up against Gordon Hayward at both ends. Hayward, who had 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per outing last season with the Boston Celtics, was acquired formally via sign-and-trade by the Hornets, and Okoro in Game 1 for him, will have quite an opening matchup there.
In a general sense, though, this should be a fun way to tip off the upcoming season for the Cavaliers.